Hello Everyone!

This page is to help support our son Ethan Trovato and our family. Ethan was born on August 9th 2021. Hours after his birth, he developed seizures and was resuscitated twice before he was transported to a nearby hospital. Due to his seizures and apnea, Ethan had to be placed on a ventilator to assist with breathing and monitored with a continuous EEG. His medical team tried 3 different anti-seizure medications to try to stabilize him enough so that he could undergo an MRI that would help his doctors understand what was happening. On 8/13/21, at four days of life, he finally had his MRI, and everything turned upside down. That morning, Ethan was diagnosed with Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (or HIE for short), an injury to his brain caused by a lack of oxygen. HIE can lead to Epilepsy, Vision impairment, Cerebral Palsy, and developmental delays. Ethan, unfortunately, has been diagnosed with all four. He faces a lifetime of challenges and enormous medical expenses, many of which are not and will not be covered by health insurance. Ethan receives occupational and physical therapy every week and will be soon be starting vision therapy. He has developed a wonderful medical team at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and goes to CHOP at least once a month for EEG monitoring and twice a month for checkups with his specialists. He is being fitted for an adaptive bath seat, car seat and stroller later this month. He currently takes three anti-seizure medications: he takes one medication three times a day and two others twice a day. His particular brain injury makes it hard to control his seizures, and his medications will need to constantly be tweaked and adjusted. Insurance covers some, but not all these expenses, and the out of pocket costs are already becoming overwhelming. At the time of Ethan’s MRI last year, he was sedated. Later that night after Dad gave him his first bath, Ethan opened his eyes and started showing us his true character. He amazes us every day with how strong he is and how hard he works. We desperately need to give him the best care now to give him the best chance of overcoming a lifetime of disability. If you would like to learn more about his full story or have any questions, feel free to reach out to us. Thank you for your support. It means a lot to our family.